# Website Development

_Fast, findable sites you can run on your own_

> Marketing sites, content platforms and storefronts built for speed, search and AI discovery, with a CMS built for you.

- Tags: Build, Service
- Source: https://www.insidethebox.dev/services/website-development

## Overview

Your website is the one place where you decide how you are described: to people, to search engines and to the AI assistants that now answer questions from what they find on the open web. It has to load fast, say clearly what you do, and be easy for your own team to keep updated.

We design and build marketing sites, content platforms and storefronts on a modern stack: pages built ahead of time and served from the edge, a headless CMS your editors can run without us, and the structure that search engines and assistants read. Our guide [Why your website still matters in the age of AI search](/insights/websites-still-matter-for-ai-search) explains the thinking.

## What we build

Most projects are one of three kinds, and many combine them.

| Site                       | What it needs                                            | Typical pages                                 |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Marketing site             | A clear story, fast pages and forms that reach your CRM  | Home, services, pricing, about, contact       |
| Content platform           | A content model, search and templates editors can extend | Articles, guides, documentation, case studies |
| Storefront or booking site | Product or class data, a checkout and order emails       | Catalogue, product pages, basket, checkout    |
| Listing website            | Structured listings, search, filters and easy management | Listings, categories, search, listing details |

## Design system

We design a small set of components instead of a pile of pages: a header, a hero, cards, a form, a footer, each with its sizes and states agreed once. Pages are then composed from those pieces, so the tenth page looks like the first, and a new one takes hours instead of weeks.

The same components exist in design and in code under the same names, so what your team approves in the design file is what ships.

## Responsive layouts

One layout adapts to every screen. We design for the narrowest phone first, then let the same components rearrange as the screen widens: one card across on a phone, two on a tablet, three on a desktop. Text stays readable without zooming, and buttons stay large enough to tap.

We check every page at the widths people really use, and on real phones, not only at three tidy breakpoints.

## Content and CMS

Your team edits the site without a developer. In the CMS, editors change text and images, switch blocks on and off, reorder them and preview the page before it goes live. They build pages from approved blocks, so the design holds however the content changes.

Publishing doesn't rebuild the whole site. The CMS tells the site which page changed, and only that page is regenerated, the next time someone opens it. Roles, drafts, scheduled publishing and revision history come as standard.

## Forms and checkout

A site earns its keep when someone books, buys or gets in touch. We design those paths as carefully as the home page: clear prices, few fields, card and wallet payments through an established payment provider, and a confirmation the customer can trust. Enquiries go to your CRM and bookings to your calendar.

Every step is measured with your visitors' consent, so you can see where people drop out and fix it.

## Performance

Speed is something we measure, not promise. Google's Core Web Vitals describe how a page feels to use: how soon the main content appears (Largest Contentful Paint, good at 2.5 seconds or less), how quickly the page reacts to a tap (Interaction to Next Paint, good at 200 milliseconds or less) and how still the layout stays while it loads (Cumulative Layout Shift, good at 0.1 or less). Google judges each one on real visits, at the 75th percentile.

We build and test on a mid-range phone, so that real visits pass all three. A performance budget is set at the start and checked on every change, which keeps the site fast after launch.

## Search and AI discovery

Search engines and AI assistants read the same pages your visitors do. We give them what they need: one clear topic per page, descriptive titles and summaries, HTML that arrives fully rendered from the server, a sitemap, and structured data that says what each page is about, such as a product and its price, an event and its date, or an organisation and how to reach it.

Google says a page needs nothing special to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode: it has to be indexed and eligible for a snippet, and the rest is still SEO. Structured data makes a page eligible for richer search results; it doesn't guarantee them. We also set out which crawlers may use your content, because the ones that train AI models and the ones that power AI search follow separate robots.txt rules.

## Analytics

A site should tell you what it is doing. We set up the analytics tools you already know, such as Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Meta Pixel and Google Ads conversion tracking, or a privacy-first alternative such as Plausible or Matomo when you prefer to keep data in Europe. Everything runs behind the consent banner, so nothing fires before a visitor agrees.

Page views are the easy part. We define the events that matter to your business, such as a form sent, a call tapped, a booking made or a product bought, and build the tags and triggers in Tag Manager that record them, with their values and sources, so marketing campaigns and the site's own pages can be compared on the same numbers. Each event is tested before launch and documented, so the next person can see what is tracked and why.

We then help you read the results. Together we agree a short list of metrics, build a dashboard your team opens without us, and review it with you at a regular cadence: which pages bring enquiries, where visitors drop out, and what to change next.

## Process

Structure first, then design, then build, then a calm launch. You get a preview link for every change, so you see real pages from the second week on.

1. **Structure** — The sitemap, the content model and what each page has to answer, before any visual design.
2. **Design** — A small system of components, designed at real screen sizes, instead of a pile of pages.
3. **Build** — Static-first pages and a CMS your team can use, measured against Core Web Vitals from day one.
4. **Launch** — Redirects, tracking, monitoring and editor training, so the handover is uneventful.

## Launch and migration

Most new sites replace an older one, and the launch must not lose what the old site earned. We map every old address to its new one with a permanent (301) redirect, carry over titles and descriptions, submit the new sitemap and keep watching search traffic and errors in the weeks after launch.

The redirects stay in place for at least a year, which is what Google recommends, and the old site stays archived until the new one has settled.

## Deliverables

A production website, its design system, a CMS set up around your content model, and the documentation and training to run it. You own the code, the content, the domain and every account.

- Sitemap and information architecture
- Content model
- Design system and components
- Responsive website
- Headless CMS setup and editor training
- Structured data and sitemaps
- Analytics and consent
- Redirect map and launch plan

## Stack

Next.js and React for the pages, built ahead of time and served from an edge network; a headless CMS for content; structured data and sitemaps generated from that content; analytics that respect consent; and monitoring for speed and errors. We choose the CMS and the hosting with you, and connect the site to the tools you already use.

## FAQ

Answers to the questions we hear most often about website projects.

### Which CMS do you recommend?

It depends on who edits the site and what you publish. We work with the main headless platforms and choose one with you, based on how your content is structured, how many people edit it and what it costs to run. Your content stays exportable, so the site is never locked to one vendor.

### Will we lose search rankings when we migrate?

A planned move protects what the old site earned. We map every old address to its new one with a permanent redirect, carry over titles, descriptions and structured data, submit the new sitemap and watch Search Console after launch. Google says to expect rankings to fluctuate for a few weeks while it recrawls a site, and changing the design and the addresses at the same time usually costs some traffic at first.

### Can our team edit pages without a developer?

Yes. Editors change text and images, switch blocks on and off, reorder them and preview the result before publishing. They build pages from approved blocks, so the design holds without a developer in the loop.

### How long does a project take?

A typical marketing site takes about eight weeks from kick-off to launch: two for structure, two or three for design, three for build and content, and a week for launch checks. Larger content platforms and storefronts take longer, and we agree the plan before we start.

### How fast will the site be?

We target a Lighthouse performance score of 95 or more on mobile, and Core Web Vitals in the good range on real visits. We set a performance budget at the start and check it on every change, because a site is only fast if it stays fast.

### Will the site be accessible?

We build to WCAG 2.2 level AA: keyboard access, visible focus, sufficient contrast and text alternatives. We also respect the reduced-motion setting, which goes beyond AA. Every page gets automated checks, and we test by hand with a keyboard and a screen reader. If you sell to consumers in the EU, the European Accessibility Act has applied to e-commerce since 28 June 2025; its current standard is built on WCAG 2.1 AA, which 2.2 AA covers.

### Who owns the site?

You do. The code lives in your repository, and the CMS, hosting, domain and analytics accounts are in your name. You can take the site to another team at any time.

### Do you look after the site after launch?

If you want us to. Most clients keep us for monitoring, updates and new pages; others take the handover and run it themselves. Either way you get documentation and training.

## Capabilities

- Performance (Engineering) — proficiency 5/5
- Technical SEO (Growth) — proficiency 5/5
- Analytics and tracking (Growth) — proficiency 4/5
- Design systems (Design) — proficiency 5/5
- Content modelling (CMS) — proficiency 4/5
- Accessibility (Frontend) — proficiency 4/5
- Motion and interaction (Frontend) — proficiency 4/5

## In numbers

- Lighthouse target: 95 +
- Typical launch: 6 wks